China Experts to Speak April 4

April 1, 2011

Jim Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, and his wife Deborah Fallows, author of Dreaming in Chinese, will offer an informal talk followed by a lecture at Occidental College on Monday, April 4. The talk, "Writing & Living in Asia: A Conversation With Jim and Debbie Fallows," will take place at 2 p.m. in Morrison Lounge. It will be followed by a lecture by the couple on "Understanding the China Challenge" at 5:30 p.m. in Johnson 200.

Jim Fallows is a 25-year veteran of The Atlantic and a former speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter. His work has also appeared in Slate, the New York Times Magazine, the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker and the American Prospect, among others. He is a former editor of U.S. News & World Report.According to the New York Times, Fallows "give[s] us panoramic views of China that are both absorbing and illuminating."

Fallows has been a visiting professor at a number of universities in the U.S. and China, and holds the chair in U.S. media at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is the author of nine books, including National Defense, for which he received the 1983 National Book Award; Looking at the Sun (1994); Breaking the News (1996); and Blind Into Baghdad (2006). His most recent book is Postcards From Tomorrow Square (2010).

Deborah Fallows, who holds a doctorate in linguistics from the University of Texas, Austin, is a senior research fellow for Pew Internet. She has written for The Atlantic Monthly, National Geographic, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. New & World Report, the Washington Post, and the Washington Monthly. She previously worked at Georgetown University as assistant dean for the School of Languages and Linguistics and as assistant director of Undergraduate Admissions. She blogs about their experiences abroad.

The free talk and lecture are sponsored by the Office of Global Affairs. Books will be available for purchase at each event.